Help requested: External SSD no longer readable

[Jonathan]

Thank you all for the comments and suggestions!

I’ll have to update my backup workflow. I used the Sandisk SSD that failed as my primary storage and backed it up using Backblaze, so I’d really like to recover the data. Other than Backblaze I do not have another copy of all my photos.

I kept an additional copy of photos of my family/kids on my computer’s internal drive at least.

I plan to try some things that were suggested to see if I can recover the data. I’ll also request a restore from Backblaze.

 

[cchuck]

I own previous edition — the non-pro. 4Tb. No issues. But will add T7s now. Thanks for all the shared knowledge!

 

[Patrick M]

Fwiw my m.o. in the field is to copy direct camera to iPad then iPad to ssd….that gives me two copies , so a little “protection”…..tho I’ve never had an external drive fail.
sadly, this is the first I’ve heard of a Sandisc SSD failure. Hope you get your images off it.

 

[KP Birder]

I had an SD card fail with the same messages, and Disk Utility could not recover the data. I realized that I had let the computer go to sleep too many times without ejecting the card first, so now I try to be religious about it. If it does happen, with either a camera card or my SanDisk Extreme drive, I immediately run Disk Utility/First Aid to prevent the file hierarchy getting messed up. Live and learn!

 

[JamesFarrell]

I see them discounted at B&H, but not down to $117 for a 2TB. Can you elaborate a bit more?

--Ken

Well, see if you can open this link - https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1559838-REG/samsung_mu_pc2t0h_am_2tb_t7_portable_ssd.html - put one in your shopping cart. The coupon is applied at this point. Any sales tax is added (if you normally pay sales with them which I do). My cost for the Blue 2TB T7 was just under $117. Add AZ sales tax and the total was $125.88 (I don’t use B&H’s goofy credit card). Just search for “ Samsung T7” and search through the results.

 

[RichF]

So true. I only use this HD for one of two backups when traveling. I even ran CrystalDisk on it and was rated "good". But - as you say - you never know. THAT is why making TWO backups (or more) is so important.

Something else to consider, keep your backups safe while traveling. If both backups are in the same place (camera bag, computer bag, suitcase, ...) if you lose the bag or the bag is stolen, you lost your backups. If you keep them with your computer, then you have lost the trip (until then) images. I keep my backups in a different place than my computer and when I travel with my wife, we cross backup. All with the goal of SWAN - Sleep Well At Night.

 

[Butlerkid]

Something else to consider, keep your backups safe while traveling. If both backups are in the same place (camera bag, computer bag, suitcase, ...) if you lose the bag or the bag is stolen, you lost your backups. If you keep them with your computer, then you have lost the trip (until then) images. I keep my backups in a different place than my computer and when I travel with my wife, we cross backup. All with the goal of SWAN - Sleep Well At Night.

I always carry one back up set on my body. The other set safely stored away from camera gear and computer which would be targets for theft.

 

[Chris K]

Is the disk using a Mac filesystem, or some FAT-based filesystem (as they're generally formatted for out-of-the-box)?

If you haven't reformatted it for a Mac filesystem, perhaps try plugging it into a computer running a different OS. Every OS handles FAT a bit differently (to say nothing of partition tables), and you might have better luck on a Windows or Linux computer. It's not that one is better or worse than the other so much as they're all different.

 

[RichF]

I always carry one back up set on my body. The other set safely stored away from camera gear and computer which would be targets for theft.

good practice

 

[JamesFarrell]

Is the disk using a Mac filesystem, or some FAT-based filesystem (as they're generally formatted for out-of-the-box)?

If you haven't reformatted it for a Mac filesystem, perhaps try plugging it into a computer running a different OS. Every OS handles FAT a bit differently (to say nothing of partition tables), and you might have better luck on a Windows or Linux computer. It's not that one is better or worse than the other so much as they're all different.

Chris: I think "out of the box" these externals (at least the Samsung's do) come formatted as "ExFAT" meaning OK for either Windows or Mac. Not 100% sure of this. Tomorrow (4/19) I have Samsung T7 SSDs arriving. I'll know more then. Since I am only Mac and my two computers in house at Macs I re-formatted my externals to APFS.

 

[Replytoken]

Well, see if you can open this link - https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1559838-REG/samsung_mu_pc2t0h_am_2tb_t7_portable_ssd.html - put one in your shopping cart. The coupon is applied at this point. Any sales tax is added (if you normally pay sales with them which I do). My cost for the Blue 2TB T7 was just under $117. Add AZ sales tax and the total was $125.88 (I don’t use B&H’s goofy credit card). Just search for “ Samsung T7” and search through the results.

This link is working, thank you. If I had not already received my copy from Amazon on Sunday, I would have ordered from B&H. But the hassle factor is not worth it for me at present. I am not sure why they are clearing out these drives at such a low price, but it is a good sale to take advantage of.

--Ken

 

[Chris K]

Chris: I think "out of the box" these externals (at least the Samsung's do) come formatted as "ExFAT" meaning OK for either Windows or Mac. Not 100% sure of this. Tomorrow (4/19) I have Samsung T7 SSDs arriving. I'll know more then. Since I am only Mac and my two computers in house at Macs I re-formatted my externals to APFS.

It seems like exFAT has taken over for the most part, but I know a lot of people reformat. APFS gives you some nice features over exFAT for sure, so long as you don't ever intend to use the drive on other OSes. I like to use exFAT for all removable storage, cause you never know when you might want to use the drive on another computer!

 

[French Avocado]

Well, see if you can open this link - https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1559838-REG/samsung_mu_pc2t0h_am_2tb_t7_portable_ssd.html - put one in your shopping cart. The coupon is applied at this point. Any sales tax is added (if you normally pay sales with them which I do). My cost for the Blue 2TB T7 was just under $117. Add AZ sales tax and the total was $125.88 (I don’t use B&H’s goofy credit card). Just search for “ Samsung T7” and search through the results.

Thanks Jim! It worked for me but would only do one at the discounted price. I do not care about the color but find it odd that different colors are different prices.

 

[Andrew Lamberson]

Not to beat my dead horse (well...maybe) but investing in a very good USB C data cable might just solve your issue.

If you are using a cheap or "power only" USB C it just won't work.

I use: https://www.anker.com/products/a8866?ref=naviMenu&variant=41974289072278
Scroll down to the bottom where it talks about data speed.

Some great info on all the different types of USB C cables and data speeds:

How to Choose the Right USB-C to USB-C Cable

USB-C is brilliant. You can fast charge your smartphone, tablet, and laptop, or, transfer data at high speed, all using the same USB-C to USB-C cable. Only that you have the right one. In contradiction to the unified USB-C standard, the situation of its cables is extremely confusing for average cons

www.chargerlab.com

 

[BlackRockArt]

Jonathan, I wonder if there is a bad batch of SanDisk Expreme Pro external drive, I did a quick search & got a lot of online complaints.

Oliver

 

[jbk2forum]

I'm not so sure it is just the newer versions of the SD. I recently had a 'failure' with a 1TB drive that is around 2 years old. Used this for TM backup on 24"M1 iMac. Purchased another M1 iMac and wanted to do a migration from SSD. The SSD last updated the night before. The new iMac would not recognize the SD. Apple blamed it on being HFS+ formatted and it is a 50/50 chance that it will be recognized with new iMac. Did not make sense to me. I tried everything to get into the SD. It finally got recognized on my 16" MBPro M1 2021. I had already set up the new computer, so I reformatted in AFPS. While it checks out fine now...I am not confident it will hold up. So, I will use this only for work that will not be an issue if lost--since already backed up. Don't know even if that makes sense. I have many SD SSD's both 2TB and 4TB...and a couple of Samsung T5s. I'm thinking of picking up the Samsung T7s. Keep trying connecting and it may work one time.

 

[KP Birder]

Not to beat my dead horse (well...maybe) but investing in a very good USB C data cable might just solve your issue.

If you are using a cheap or "power only" USB C it just won't work.

I use: https://www.anker.com/products/a8866?ref=naviMenu&variant=41974289072278
Scroll down to the bottom where it talks about data speed.

Some great info on all the different types of USB C cables and data speeds:

How to Choose the Right USB-C to USB-C Cable

USB-C is brilliant. You can fast charge your smartphone, tablet, and laptop, or, transfer data at high speed, all using the same USB-C to USB-C cable. Only that you have the right one. In contradiction to the unified USB-C standard, the situation of its cables is extremely confusing for average cons

www.chargerlab.com

When I had trouble with my Samsung Extreme 1TB drive, the supplied cable had become loose and kept disconnecting from the drive. I purchased a new cable off Amazon and it has been rock-solid ever since. Fortunately, I was able to rescue the drive with the Mac Disk Utility before it became too messed up.

 

[Feiertag]

I think a good lesson has been learnt. You should consider buying multiple 1TB rather than putting all your captures in one basket.
Speaking from experience, I had a regular Sandisk 1TB that failed and I lost all my photos. The larger the storage drive, the more you risk losing. Just saying!

 

[Roy]

Has anyone experienced the following issue? If yes, where you able to recover your data? Any ideas to help me recover my data are appreciated!

When attempting to connect my external SSD (SanDisk 4TB Extreme PRO Pro SSD V2) today I received the following error code: "The disk you attached was not readable by this computer". With the option to "Eject", "Ignore", or "Initialize...".

Computer details: MacBook Pro M1 16in, 2021, macOS Monterey 12.0.1

The drive is relatively new, purchased in January 2023, worked from purchase until this evening. Worked fine the last time I plugged it in a couple days ago.

Steps taken so far:

• Restarted my computer after selecting "Eject" from error code pop-up window
  • Received same error message after restarting
• I plugged in a different external drive to my computer
  • The different drive was able to be read with no issues.
• I also tried the drive in question on my wife's computer,
  • Received same error message
• Clicked "Initialize.." on error code pop-up window
  • Took me to "Disk Utility" app
  • Ran "First Aid" on external drive
  • Received the following message after running "First Aid": "First Aid process has failed. If possible back up the data on this volume. Click Done to continue"

Thank you for your help!

looks like a bad copy of the drive.
SSDs dont last as long as magnetic drives and usually last me a least a year or so.
If the controller interface board is ok then I fear it could be a job foe data recovery specialists.
Unfortunately it's much harder to recover data from a dead SSD than from a magnetic drive.
Warranty replacement is unlikely to cover your files ...

 

[Replytoken]

SSDs dont last as long as magnetic drives and usually last me a least a year or so.

Any chance you could elaborate on this a bit more? I know all drives are subject to failure regardless of technology, but I am wondering if you are referring to a specific type of SSD? One year seems awfully short, especially if you are also including the SSD's that have been installed in desktops and laptops, at least based on my experiences.

Thanks,

--Ken

 

[IainD]

Not exactly the same, but I have an external WD spinning disk hard drive which is quite new. I set it to run Time Machine on the iMac I use for work. It keeps disappearing. Time Machine says disk not available. After several openings and closings of the computer it will come back. All data are still intact.
On the iMac Pro next to it, works reliably. I suggest getting all your data back by trying any other computer and then perhaps retiring that drive permanently. Good luck. I hope it works in the end.

 

[Chris K]

SSDs dont last as long as magnetic drives and usually last me a least a year or so.

I disagree with that assertion, in general.

SSDs wear primarily by writing data. Each cell in an SSD has a limited number of writes before it fails. The controller works around these failures, and the drive (in theory) gracefully reduces in size as it wears out.

HDDs wear by write to a lesser extent, but also significantly by heat and jostling, and by hours of operation.

I work in IT infrastructure, and my team is responsible for a lot of drives on a daily basis. On the end-user hardware end of things (where we all live), it's extremely rare we have a storage failure within four years... both SSD and HDD. This is with whatever OE Lenovo or Dell drives we are given. In fact, when we stretch a device lifecycle, it's almost always something other than the drive that fails first. We have numerous SSD and HDD devices that have lived for >7 years.

There's two good ways to kill SSDs:

1. Use an MLC SSD for an extremely write-heavy job (ie: database transaction logs, media encoding) and pound away at it 24/7
2. Buy a sketchy SSD (which might be a reject from a first-tier vendor, be lesser in capacity than is listed, or have a really poor quality controller)

An SSD in a normal use pattern should be able to handle anything a photographer can throw at it, until it is so old that you want to replace it because you can get a new, faster drive that's 4x larger.

 

[Chris K]

Not exactly the same, but I have an external WD spinning disk hard drive which is quite new. I set it to run Time Machine on the iMac I use for work. It keeps disappearing. Time Machine says disk not available. After several openings and closings of the computer it will come back. All data are still intact.
On the iMac Pro next to it, works reliably. I suggest getting all your data back by trying any other computer and then perhaps retiring that drive permanently. Good luck. I hope it works in the end.

This is probably more than you want to do, but you can use the Console app on your Mac to see if there are system events that occur when the drive disconnects. You might be able to troubleshoot a USB issue or some disk corruption issue or something.

 

[IainD]

This is probably more than you want to do, but you can use the Console app on your Mac to see if there are system events that occur when the drive disconnects. You might be able to troubleshoot a USB issue or some disk corruption issue or something.

I might try that. I will look up how to go about it but at the moment I am just copying stuff manually on to my external ssd. Thank you for the suggestio.
i